Historic Reformatory in Mansfield

Our adventures took us to Mansfield, Ohio to visit the elegantly constructed Ohio State Reformatory. "Oooh, real fun," you say. But our guided tour was quite full even on this pleasant Sunday afternoon... plus our friends, Jack and Mary Neuzil came, too!

Taking the Hollywood Tour of the building showed us the settings for the scenes in the movie, Shawshank Redemption, including Andy Defresne's escape tunnel. The Reformatory was the setting for the Russian Prison in Air Force One. Tango & Cash, a movie we had never heard of but Mom C. has on VHS, was also filmed here. After our tour, we are now revisiting these films with a piqued interest.

Unfortunately, there were very few Cleveland Browns fans on our tour (the tour guide asked... and we may have been the only admitted fans). It must be a crime to be so proud of our loyalty to the Cleveland teams because they locked us up for admitting to being Browns fans and Indians fans in the same day...

Is your Mama, a Llama?

So, is it a llama or an alpaca?

Driving through Geneva, Ohio, we just HAD to stop when we saw this llama tied to the lamp post near the center of town. The owner must have been in a nearby store doing some shopping... and this llama seemed content with its hitching post. Its wool was so dense and warm, but its teeth were a little scary. Ahh!

We took some photos, then said our goodbyes to the llama and carried on our way with our adventures.

World Expo in China

Keith was invited to speak during the Opening Ceremonies of the World Exposition in China at the end of April. With many marching bands to see and hear, plus the menagerie of country pavilions, the trip was too quick. But there are many Chinese Band directors that now have at least one new American friend!

Sadao, the CEO of Dynasty of Japan, spoke English and Japanese, which made him a very handy (and important) person to tour Shanghai with. Most of the people in China speak Japanese and Chinese. The often humorous moments were when conversations were interpreted from Japanese to Chinese and then to English! There were long periods of waiting for words to be familiar... and sometimes it never made it to English at all.

Sadao and Keith in Tea Garden.

Country Pavilions: Estonia, China, Korea

A View of Shanghai